Dick Wolf shows have an annoying habit of handling character exits. Thankfully, Chicago Med reversed this annoying trend when it reported on Dr. Marcel.
Granted, Marcel deserved more than a throwaway line at his farewell party, but nonetheless, his exit made sense.
Even though Dominique Reigns’ exit was announced after the Chicago Med season 9 finale, it was logical that his departure had a big impact.
Too many Dick Wolf shows include post-mortem exit explanations
This troubling trend can be traced back to Stabilizer’s initial exit
“Chicago Med” bucks the annoying trend often found on Dick Wolf shows.
Characters tend to leave without warning between seasons. This means that the characters who remain have to explain where the missing people disappeared to.
It’s so common on some shows that it’s become a tired TV trope. Characters disappeared without a trace, other characters explained the situation, and fans were disappointed that their favorite characters didn’t get exited from the story.
This trend may have started because Law & Order: SVU wasn’t prepared for the possible exit of Christopher Meloni following a contract dispute. Since he didn’t return, Stabler’s absence had to be explained in some way.
The first example, though, is more like what happened to Marcel: While Stabler’s final story isn’t necessarily an exit story, it’s logical since he’s been through something so traumatic.
Still, characters on shows like “Chicago,” “FBI,” and “Law & Order” tend to disappear without warning.
For example, why did Dixon leave Law & Order? We can imagine why, but her last episode didn’t give us any chance to continue.
How Chicago Med is reversing an annoying trend
Marcel’s final episode is ambiguous enough to be his swan song
One reason Marcel wasn’t in the season premiere is that showrunner Allen MacDonald felt his season nine finale was enough closure.
MacDonald is right.
In Chicago Med Season 9 Episode 13, Marcel appears depressed after the death of both his patient and the patient’s father.
He asked Tanaka-Reed to take over his surgery and took an afternoon off, then told Sharon he was having a hard time and needed some space.
He also told Maggie that for the first time since he was employed by Gaffney, work didn’t distract him from his pain.
After watching that episode, I wondered if my favorite Chicago Med character would be leaving the show, and about a month later, Marcel announced his exit, which was completely unsurprising.
That’s how Chicago Med bucked the trend — it arranged for Marcel’s exit, even though it didn’t explicitly commit to his departure.
Marcel’s send-off could have been better
His exit makes sense, but the explanation does not
While using Marcel’s final scene as the decision to exit the story makes sense, the way his exit is handled leaves something to be desired.
The only mention of what happened to him is that he had a going away party and is now in Boston. I still don’t know if he accepted another medical job or moved for some other reason.
It’s nice that Chicago Med bucked the trend and gave Marcel a final story that felt like an ending, but he still deserved more than just a throwaway line.
It would be a waste of screen time to stream a party, especially when Med has so much grunt work to do.
Chicago Med Season 10 Episode 1 needed to highlight new characters and provide a compelling medical story, so it didn’t have the luxury of dedicating an entire episode (or even a large portion!) to Marcel’s departure.
Still, it doesn’t feel like the characters care that he’s gone.
During an all-hands-on-deck crisis, it would be natural for someone to say that Marcel chose a bad time to leave, or joke that he must have known this crisis was coming when he decided to leave.
While “Chicago Med” bucked an annoying trend about Marcel, the episode didn’t take into account that he was once an important member of the team.
In many Dick Wolf episodes, it’s this out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality that makes a character’s exit so disappointing.
People who work at Gaffney have always felt like family, so it makes no sense that no one would miss Marcel so soon after his departure.
This episode takes place a few months from the Season 9 finale, so it would make more sense if Marcel left immediately after those harrowing events.
But even so, it seems only natural and human that someone would miss him during this crisis.
Marcel thrives in crisis situations, and sometimes when everyone is needed on deck, it’s natural to wish that a pair of hands that are no longer there are still there to help.
Over to you, Chicago Med fanatics!
Do you agree that Chicago Med handled Marcel’s exit this way to reverse an annoying trend?
Does it bother you that he doesn’t acknowledge that he’s gone, or are you just annoyed that I wish he hadn’t?
Come to the comment area to express your thoughts!
Chicago Med airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on NBC and Thursdays on Peacock.
